Iowa Where the Tall Corn Grows

This year the crops are ahead. The farmers were able to get in the fields sooner due to a great Winter and good Spring. It is always amazing somehow, to see the little rows of corn and beans coming up. The weather was so beautiful that they got lots of sunshine and just the right rains to help them along. Some fields are totally green already and I know that is early. They should have a good crop this year if we don't get any hail or really bad weather.

W I T Rally

This is the week of the big Winnebago Industries WIT Club Rally in Forest City, Iowa. They expected about 1200 motorhomes this year. Some years it has been over 1600. I'm kind of curious to see how many there are this year with things being so depressed. But in talking to some of them, we find they live in their motorhomes and travel all over and don't worry about gas prices, etc. Winnebago puts on all kinds of seminars and entertainment for them, including driving lessons for women or anyone who feels they could use some. The motorhomes just keep getting larger and larger and better and better and some are nicer than some homes. They even have central air now and the push outs make the homes so much larger when parked. If you haven't seen the inside of a new one, you ought to visit a dealership and see them. They are gorgeous.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Iowa has been on the national news so much lately. And it isn't good news. It is major flooding of big cities. The Cedar River has flooded Austin, Minnesota and has gone on down to flood every town in its path. Cedar Rapids is the latest victim, being completely flooded this morning. All the sandbagging hasn't helped. Iowa City is already flooding and Missouri is sandbagging in expectation of that same water hitting them next. The weather has really turned violent too with all the tornadoes. It is really terrible.

Political 4th of July

Clear Lake, Iowa is going to be the center of a hot political 4th of July. Presidential candidates are coming to Clear Lake. Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat from New York, are scheduled for an appearance in Clear Lake on the 4th of July. But also, the campaign of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican contender, has confirmed he will be in Clear Lake to be in their 4th of July parade. In addition. parade co-chairman, Ric Jacobs said campaign staffers for GOP presidential hopeful, Sam Brownback of Kansas has contacted the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce inquiring about the parade. No further word has been heard back on this.

Google Inc. Will Build In Iowa

Congratulations to Council Bluffs, Iowa as Google Inc. will build a $600 million data center there. Iowa Governor, Chet Culver announced this Tuesday. They have already begun construction on a 55 acre site in Council Bluffs, across the Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska. It is expected that this center is expected to create about 200 jobs with an average salary of about $50,000. This will have a tremendous impact on the town, western Iowa and our entire state. Google's decision to make Iowa the home of their newest server is fantastic. The governor also said the data center would help Iowa modernize its 21st century economy.